Paper 2 C1: Coastal fieldwork

What is the geographical enquiry question and subquestion?

How do coastal processes in Walton-on-the-Naze impact the types of coastal management?

Is there a link between how built-up and affluent an area is and the types and quality (whether they were efficient and maintained) of coastal management in the area?

Describe the quantitive primary data collection methods and their advantages and disadvantages

• Measurement of beach profile

Used a clinometer to measure the angle that the beach increased or decreased every metre moving away from the sea to measure the beach’s gradient

Advantages: helps us to identify evidence of erosion and deposition; equipment was inexpensive, quick and easy to use; provides objective quantitive readings so reduces human estimation errors and allows for the data to be comparable between each location

Disadvantages: human error can reduce accuracy; may be difficult to use; time consuming

• Wave count

Used a stopwatch for one minute and counted how many waves washed onto the beach. If it was between 0-9 it was constructive and if it was 10 or more it was destructive

Advantages: quick and easy to carry out; no specialist equipment needed; helps to distinguish whether they were constructive or destructive waves; non-invasive and safe

Disadvantages: highly subjective; difficult in rough or stormy conditions; safety concerns (e.g. going too close to the waterline to sea waves clearly)

• Bi-polar analysis

A bi-polar analysis uses a rating scale with opposite pairs of words on each end of the scale to evaluate a topic. We used this to measure how effective the coastal management was at different locations

Advantages: easy to understand and quick to complete; produces quantitative data that can be presented on a graph (e.g. A radar graph) and be compared.

Disadvantages: highly subjective; limited precision; environmental conditions can affect scoring; doesn’t provide detailed explanations

Describe the quantitive primary data collection method and its advantages and disadvantages

• Field sketch

Used a sketch to show the major coastal management methods, land use and processes in the area

Advantages: quick and easy to produce; doesn’t require specialist equipment; useful for comparisons of sites; helps to recall the sites after you have left

Advantages: may lack accuracy; hard to compare; maybe difficult and bad weather; need to remember to bring equipment

Describe the secondary data collection methods

• OS maps

To see if there was a built up area at each location. Also used this to see if the area had coastal management, an accessible beach and parking areas

Advantages: helps with planning fieldwork; very accurate; helps to identify roads and types of coastal management

Disadvantages: normal features are shown; students must be able to read maps; cannot show real time conditions

• Coastal management plans

Identified which locations they are ‘holding the line’ at, to see if there was a correlation between this and the economic value of the area

Advantages: very accurate and reliable; explains reasons behind management decisions; allows comparison of locations

Disadvantages: technical language may be hard to interpret; may be difficult to access

• Census data

We used this to see the average household incomes of the area to see if there was a correlation between affluence and the type of coastal management in place

Advantages:Very reliable and trustworthy; covers the whole population; detailed; useful for comparing locations; easy to access

Disadvantages: may be out of date; can be difficult to interpret; may not have the relevant information needdd

Describe the different types of sampling

Random: collected by chance, to reduce bias

Systematic: collecting samples at regular intervals (eg. Every metre)

Stratified: the location is divided into strata, and random samples are taken from the different strata. Each strata has a different number of samples taken from it depending on factors like the size of location

Describe the three types of data presentation used and their advantages and disadvantages

• Used a line graph to represent beach profile

Advantages: makes it easy to identify the changes in gradient; easy to compare between different locations; simple and easy to draw and interpret

Disadvantages: does not give information on sediment type or size; doesn’t show the beach’s sideways shape

• Used a bar chart to represent wave count

Advantages: very easy to interpret; useful for comparing multiple sites; quick and simple to construct

Disadvantages: may not be suitable for showing very small differences; doesn’t show extra information like the weather at the time so may be misleading

• Used a radar graph to represent bi-polar analysis

Advantages: shows all categories at once; visual shape makes patterns obvious; easy to understand quickly

Disadvantages: difficult to construct accurately by hand; hard to compare exact values

Explain relevant case studies and theories that linked to the enquiry

• Long shore drift

Explains sediment transport, why groynes work and explains how beach shape changes

• Wave energy theory and constructive and destructive waves

Constructive are 0-9 a minute and deposit sediment, whereas destructive are 10+ a minute and erode the beach

Explain what the data showed from the two locations

Location 2 experienced greater erosional processes as it had destructive waves (10+ per minute) and a steeper gradient in its beach profile.

Location 2 also had better and more well maintained defences (sea wall, rock groynes compared to location 1s wooden groynes). Location 2 also had a greater average household income and more businesses.

Overall location 2 had more effective and better maintained coastal defences as it was more affected by erosion and had a higher land value

What was the conclusion?

Areas that are affected more by erosional processes and that have a higher land value have better and more well maintained coastal management

Evaluate the fieldwork data and methods used

What went well:

• we took repeated measurements which improved accuracy

• Used both primary and secondary data which improves reliability

• Used a range of different methods to give a more complete picture and reduce the impact of anomalies

• Methods were appropriate for the inquiry question

• Worked in different groups and calculated a mean of the results

• Whether the conditions were suitable

• Suitable data presentation allowed us to identify patterns

Limitations:

• Data collected only on one day

• Small sample Size (only a few measurements were taken)

• Human error in measurement

• Subjective methods of data collection

• Bad weather impacted results

Methods impact the reliability and accuracy of data

Evaluate the conclusion drawn

Accurate:I

• Conclusion was supported by multiple data sources

• was consistent with the trends identified

• Conclusion answered the original inquiry question

Limitations:

• May not have been fully supported by evidence

• Conclusion may have been too broad or generalised

• Uncertainties may not have been acknowledged

• May be too generalised

• May not have answered the original inquiry question